Wow! Almost a month since I last blogged - I took the various comments and e-mails from some readers as a hint that it was time to write again. This will be long as I have had my parents here and we have done heaps. I also have some extremely cool pictures to add - well truth be told, lots of cool pictures.

It is hard for me to cast my memory all the way back over the last month. Just after my last entry, I was invloved in a Men's retreat called the Walk to Emmaus (www.upperroom.org) where I was one of the music team co-ordinating worship for the weekend. I was playing with another guy frfom the Emmaus movement called Ray and he could play. We clicked from the first team meeting and since that moment I did nothing but learn from him. The weekend itself was amazing and all the men participating got right into it. I came back from it with a real hunger to see the Walk To Emmaus birthed in Ireland somehow. You can imagine how blessed I was to find the Dublin Emmaus Community's website shortly after my return from the weekend. They had just completed their first retreat in February 2005. Now my dream is to see a community born in the North. We'll see what happens after next March.

That's probably the next thing I should write about actually. As I said in one of my last updates, Margaret and I have made a huge decision to return home next March. Telling people here has been extremely hard on both us and them. All along Margaret and I have planned to be here longer and so you can imagine the shock it has been to our church. However, though they are shocked and saddened, they have been nothing short of encouraging and loving. First UMC, Port St Lucie, is simply the most loving and affectionate community of faith I have ever been a part of and I don't know how we are going to have the void filled in our lives that will be created when we leave. It is a trust thing though isn't it. God has not ever let Margaret or myself down this far and we are sure that he is not intent on starting that now so in faith we move on. The plans for the move are starting to come together and I have to say that we are starting to be reminded of the huge undertaking that a trans-Atlantic move is. It is not that we had forgotten, we just really were helped so much by our families three years ago that we never really got to know the ammount of work it is to make this all happen. We have dogs to get imported, books and belongings to ship, university places to sort out and on top of all that we have to get all this done as a family of two adults and a young baby. No doubt it will all work out, we are just conscious of the amount that needs to be done and the cost of it all, so keep us in your prayers as we climb this little mountain to begin the next chapter of our story.

Having Mum and Dad here over the last two weeks was an amazing time. it was the first time they had got to meet Eva and to hold her and kiss her and hug herand all that good stuff. She loved them both from the minute she met them and for the two weeks they were here Eva always had a smile and a laugh for them everytime she looked at them. Together we all made a long, long trip to North Carolina into the beautiful mountains there in the west of the state. The weather and the scenary were simply breath-taking. We were extremely blessed to have the use of John and Renee's house there for the couple of days. I will let the photo's speak for themselves so you can understand what I mean when I say that the views and the beauty of it all were quite remarkable. We visited Grandfather Mountain and walked across a rope bridge that is a full mile above sea level. Margaret was nearly sick as we drove up the bendy little mountian road to get there(she was also in much prayer!!!!!!!!) but we made it and loved it. When we returned from North Carolina, we just drove around South east Florida and finished off bits and pieces of shopping. Of course we made it to the beach and I got to swim with my Dad in the Atlantic Ocean - which for him is a big deal given that the equivilent in Northern Ireland means swimming in the water off the Strand in Portstewart (f-f-f-f-f-f-f-freeeeeezing). Swimming there made me realise how much I take it for granted and definitely gave me a hunger to swim a lot more in the sea here before returning home in March.

Last Sunday at church we took delivery of between 4000 and 5000 pumpkins for our annual pumpkin sale. This is a major fundraiser for our youth mission trips each year. We had over 60 volunteers show up to help us with the unload and I am sure we set a record in getting them all off the truck and onto the patch in around 2 1/2 hours. For the next month now our youth group is charged with selling these pumpkins and being the farmers that look after them. It is a lot of fun until we have to take out the rotten pumpkins. I would rather clean up pig crap than clear rotten pumpkins of the patch, they are disgusting!!!!! But it is all a part of the work Lots of piccies were taken and I will share them with you.

Eva has grown a lot since I last blogged. She is now oer 20lbs in weight and is a handful to lift - definitely a chip off the old block eh??? She continues to smile a lot and learn what her lungs and voice box can actually do. She does not cry a lot, in fact she is an amazing baby - but when she does let out a gulder it is immense. I don't think she will have any problem making herself heard in the future!!! I have lots of pictures to share of her with her Granny and Granda Charles as well as a really cool one wee took of her with Fred. Jen took some cool ones at the Pumpkin patch and I will share them with you when she shares them with me.

Okay, I think you have read enough - it is time for pictures.

Blessings